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Sana'a: Seventeen men from the Yemeni ruling party won governors' posts in the first elections for governors held on Saturday.
Three independents also won defeating the ruling party candidates in the elections which were boycotted by the opposition.
The opposition boycott of the governors' election is a democratic and political right said the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
"The election of governors is the first step to equip local governance with wide powers. This step will be followed by election of heads of districts after conducting required constitutional amendments," Saleh said while visiting the media centre of the committee which supervises the election.
The country is divided into 21 provinces which have 333 districts.
A total of 36 men competed yesterday for the posts of governors in the country's 21 provinces in the first ever governors' elections.
Competition was only among the ruling party members and very few independents.
The opposition, the Islamists, Socialists, and Nasserites, boycotted the elections for not having direct elections by the people.
About 7,500 members of the already elected local councils participated in the elections. The ruling party dominates these local councils.
Three independent candidates won in Al Beidha, Mareb and Al Jawf provinces. The election was postponed in the southern province of Al Dhale'a where the opposition have majority of the voters who did not come.
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